1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to book stands used to support an opened book in an elevated, angled position upon a table or other supporting surface and more particularly, to a book holder that is easily adjustable to account for books of different thicknesses and which magnifies the printed matter appearing upon the exposed pages of the book.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Book stands used to support a book in an opened position are well known in the art. Many of such prior art book stands are in the form of an easel for supporting the lower edge and back side of the opened book without engaging the exposed pages of the opened book. While such easel-type book stands are generally useful for supporting older, used books which have been opened and read on several occasions, newer less-used books exhibit a tendency to close upon themselves due to the initial stiffness of the binding used to hold the book together. Such easel-type book stands are generally not adapted to maintain a newer book opened to a particular page.
In addition, simple easel-type book stands do not protect the opened pages of the book from being splattered by foreign matter. For example, if the book stand is being used in the kitchen to support a cookbook, the exposed pages of the cookbook often become soiled and stained by cooking splatters, thereby detracting from the appearance and useful life of the cookbook. Other environments wherein it may be desirable to protect the exposed pages of the opened book from being soiled or damaged include scientific laboratories and automotive garages.
To overcome the aforementioned disadvantages of simple easel-type book stands, book holders including a transparent front panel for overlying the exposed pages of the opened book have been proposed in the art. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,762,675 issued to Sankey discloses a cookbook stand having a transparent front panel supported in an inclined position by a pair of hinged mounting brackets. The mounting brackets each include a horizontal leg portion for supporting the lower edge of the book and an upwardly extending wing member to support the back of the book. The hinged mounting brackets are movable between open and folded positions.
In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 3,809,352 issued to Mathias discloses a book holder including a transparent holding and viewing panel overlying the exposed pages of the book and spaced apart from a book supporting panel used to support the back of the book. The transparent viewing panel and book supporting panel are joined at the lower ends thereof by a ledge which supports the lower end of the book. A bracing panel extends rearwardly and downwardly from the book supporting panel to maintain the same at an angle relative to a table top or other supporting surface. The upper edges of the transparent viewing panel and book supporting panel are spaced more closely than the bottom edges thereof for, to some extent, accommodating books of different thicknesses.
However, book holders of the type disclosed by Sankey and Mathias are subject to various drawbacks. For example, the book stand disclosed by Sankey has a fixed width channel formed between the transparent panel and the wing members and is therefore incapable of accommodating papers and books of a wide variety of thicknesses. Furthermore, because the wing members are spaced apart from one another, the book stand is not adapted to hold either papers of a width less than the distance between such wing members or papers which are relatively flexible and which may therefore bend and fall rearwardly through such wing members. In addition, the hinged construction of the mounting brackets results in relatively high manufacturing costs. In regard to the book holder described by Mathias, while some provision has been made for accommodating books of different thicknesses, the range of such permissible thicknesses is relatively limited. Moreover, it is somewhat difficult to insert thicker books into the holder disclosed by Mathias due to the need to pull the upper edge of the transparent panel away from the upper edge of book supporting panel to allow the book to enter the channel formed therebetween. In addition, no prior art book stands or holders of which the present applicant is aware provide any means for magnifying the printed matter appearing upon the exposed pages of the opened book.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a holder for supporting a book or the like in an opened position while protecting the exposed pages of the opened book from splattering, stains or other damage.
It is another object of the present invention to provide such a holder which is equally adapted to support a single sheet of paper containing written or printed matter thereon.
It is still another object of the present invention to provide such a book holder which is adapted to accommodate books and papers of a wide variety of thicknesses.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide such a book holder into which books or papers may be easily inserted and wherein the book holder may be quickly and conveniently adjusted to suit the thickness of the particular book or paper after the same has been inserted into the book holder.
It is a still further object of the present invention to provide such a book holder which includes a means for magnifying the written or printed matter appearing upon the exposed pages of the book or paper held thereby.
It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide such a book holder which may be produced easily and inexpensively.
These and other objects of the present invention will become more apparent to those skilled in the art as the description thereof proceeds.